1. Field
The present disclosure relates to processing video data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Frame rate conversion is a technology for converting the number of frames per time of a moving image. In particular, frame rate up-conversion is a technology for generating an interpolated frame, which is added between temporally adjacent frames by referring to the temporally adjacent frames. The frame rate conversion technology temporally increases the resolution of an image by generating an interpolated frame between original frames using a motion estimation technique and a motion compensation technique. Thus, the frame rate conversion technology may be used to process motion blur as well as for other purposes.
An occlusion region is an object or region which exists in one of temporally adjacent first and second frames, but not in both frames. An occlusion region may be included, for example, in a frame during a video encoding process even if an image changes rapidly. An occlusion region may also be included in an interpolated frame generated by frame rate up-conversion due to the limitations of interpolation technology.
Currently, the frame rate conversion technology, and in particular frame rate up-conversion technology, is being utilized in various display systems since it can noticeably improve image quality. However, the existence of an occlusion region is pointed out as one of the limitations of the frame rate up-conversion technology.
Furthermore, if occlusion regions exist in frames of an original video having a frame rate to be up-converted, interpolated frames cannot be generated using the motion estimation technique or the motion compensation technique.
In some instances, an interpolated frame may be a new frame generated between temporally adjacent frames using motion vector information of the temporally adjacent frames. If no motion vectors exist in the temporally adjacent frames or if motion vectors existing in the temporally adjacent frames are not reliable, an interpolated frame cannot be generated and therefore the quality of video to be reproduced may be diminished.